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WORKSHOPS

The workshops will take place on Monday, March 23, the day preceding the 4th International Smoke Symposium (ISS4). The purpose of the workshops is to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners in wildland fire, smoke management, public health, and air quality management to discuss and exchange interests on defined topics.  We view these workshops as an opportunity for technology transfer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morning Workshops

9:00 – 11:00 – FireSat for Smoke: Practical Tools, Early Insights, and Research Opportunities (remote participation available)
Instructors: Ann Kapusta, Earth Fire Alliance and Dr. Michael Falkowski

FireSat is a satellite system designed to deliver high-temporal and spatial resolution fire characterization data, offering new opportunities for smoke, emissions, and air quality research. This workshop will introduce the International Smoke Symposium community to the FireSat system, its four fire data products, and explore its relevance for smoke modeling, exposure assessment, and operational air quality forecasting and impact monitoring. Participants will explore how FireSat data can be combined with existing ground-based sensor networks – such as air quality monitoring stations, particulate sensors, and in-situ meteorological measurements – to generate more accurate and timely insights about smoke and air quality impacts. The session will include a detailed walkthrough of early sample data from the FireSat test instrument, showcasing practical workflows and real-world use cases. By the end of the workshop, attendees will have a clear understanding of how FireSat works, what types of remote sensing products it will deliver, and how these data streams can support research, modeling, and decision-making as the system comes online over the next few years.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the FireSat system and understand its remote sensing capabilities, data products, and expected performance.
  2. Interpret early FireSat test data and understand how to access and use future data releases.
  3. Explain how FireSat data can complement existing air quality measurements. And identify key smoke and air quality applications enabled by FireSat.
  4. Evaluate potential use cases for incorporating FireSat data into their own research, monitoring programs, or smoke management workflows.

Goals:

  • Educate the smoke, air quality, and fire science community on the capabilities and value of FireSat.
  • Walk through of early FireSat test data from our Protoflight mission and demonstrate practical workflows
  • Engage and energize researchers and practitioners to explore FireSat as a new data source for advancing smoke science and air quality studies.
  • Foster collaboration by connecting with end users who can help shape future applications and research directions.

CANCELLED 9:00 – 1:00 – Strategic Communication for Fire Smoke Scientists and Technical Experts
Instructor: Alex Griffith, COMPASS Science Communication

Join COMPASS for a four hour workshop on strategic communication, focusing on strategies for communication challenges for the fire smoke community. Grounded in the latest research on science communication, this workshop is designed to help smoke scientists and technical experts build their communication skills and develop messages for their chosen audiences. Participants will learn new ideas on how to share what they do, what they know – and most importantly, why it matters – in clear, lively terms. Using our signature tool (the Message Box), participants will be introduced to strategies to help them communicate, distill, and connect their most important information they want to share with their given audiences. This workshop will involve hands-on practice, using the Message Box and providing feedback to other participants, and an interactive exercise practicing an elevator pitch. COMPASS will also discuss some lessons learned based on our experiences in the fire smoke space working with experts trying to connect with communities, decision makers, and media.

9:00 – 1:00 Prescribed Fire and Wildfire Exceptional Events Resources and Tools (remote participation available)
Instructors: James Boylan, Georgia Department of Natural Resources; Rick Gillam, U.S. EPA Region 4, Mary Uhl, Western States Air Resources Council (WESTAR)

This workshop will introduce attendees to tools and resources for preparing prescribed fire and wildfire Exceptional Event (EE) demonstrations. EPA will share an example prescribed fire demonstration for a U.S. Forest Service prescribed burn in California along with other guidance and tools available on-line. Georgia EPD has developed over 100 EE demonstrations covering 2021-2024, and their streamlined approach will be summarized. WESTAR will demonstrate an on-line tool for developing EE demonstrations that was developed with South Coast. The objectives of this workshop are to share information, examples, resources, and tools for preparing exceptional event demonstrations for smoke impacts on air quality from prescribed fires and wildfires

Afternoon Workshops

2:00 – 6:00 NASA Satellite Observations and Tools for Fire and Smoke Monitoring
Instructors: Aaron Naeger, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; Carl Malings (MSU, NASA GSFC) Kristina Pistone (BAERI, NASA ARC) Caterina Mogno (UMBC, NASA GSFC)

New satellite instrument technology and data products continually advance observing capabilities for the detection and monitoring of wildland fires, and the identification and tracking of smoke plumes throughout the day. This training workshop, led by NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET) program, will provide an overview of the advanced satellite data available and introduce participants to NASA resources and tools for the monitoring of fires and smoke. These will include NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), which integrates multiple sources of satellite imagery and derived data products relevant to active fire detection and smoke monitoring. We will also introduce NASA Worldview, a web mapping application for interactively browsing global satellite imagery, including near-real-time data products, and guide participants through using Worldview to visualize products, including the new hourly data on air pollutants from the NASA TEMPO mission, relevant to assessing smoke evolution and air quality impacts.

2:00 – 6:00 Wildland Fire Smoke Modeling using BlueSky Playground
Instructors: Marlin E Martínez, University of Washington and Susan M. O’Neill, USDA Forest Service

This workshop provides hands-on training for simulating wildland fire smoke transport from prescribed fires and wildfires using the BlueSky Playground. The first part of the workshop will discuss wildland fire emissions calculations and smoke modeling basics with the BlueSky Smoke Modeling Framework. The second half of the workshop will be a demonstration and hands-on exercise(s) where students will use BlueSky playground to do their own wildland fire smoke transport modeling using some of the latest datasets and models for fuels, fuel consumption, meteorology, and atmospheric dispersion. From within the Playground framework, users will calculate fire emissions relying on high-resolution mapped fuel loadings (e.g., vegetation) from the Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) crosswalked with LANDFIRE, and the CONSUME fuel consumption model. These emissions are distributed hourly in time and vertically in the atmosphere, then combined with one of many available meteorological datasets for smoke transport modeling with the NOAA HYSPLIT dispersion model. BlueSky playground is a tool. It gives users the ability to modify/customize the many modeling components for their fire. Results can vary by several orders of magnitude based on assumptions and inputs. Concepts such as this will be highlighted and discussed throughout the workshop, and students are encouraged to bring their own prescribed fire or wildfire case scenario. Attendees should bring a laptop and have Google Chrome installed. Playground will not function in the Edge browser.

 

If you have any questions, please contact Mikel Robinson at [email protected] or (406) 625-7059.